Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots December 12, 2018 - Crossover Wednesday

Episode Date: December 12, 2018

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Hey there everybody and welcome on into a crossover Wednesday installment of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Mark Schofield back in the big chair for this December 12th, 2018. In a few moments we're going to have my conversation with Tony Serino who is the host of the Locked On Steelers podcast. You can follow him on Twitter at Steeler Country. We're going to dive into how the Steelers have been playing, the injuries that they've got to guys like Roethlisberger and Conner. We'll get into the battle between Juju Smith-Schuster and Antonio Brown, some of the stuff I alluded to in yesterday's Tape Tuesday podcast. We're going to talk a little bit about their defense. Tony,

surprisingly, I don't want to say not confident, but didn't seem as confident in this Steelers defense, particularly their ability to get pressure on Brady. I thought that was a rather interesting little bit from what Tony and I talked about. But first, we have to revisit Miami just for a moment. Before we do that, however, a reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield.

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are they've got me doing some work for them. As I said, conversation withony serino up in a moment but i did want to at least revisit the debacle in miami just for a minute and i know look you probably don't want to talk about it i don't really want to talk about it nobody wants to talk about it but the thing is brian flores talked about it and I thought it was important to sort of revisit what he had to say about this, that play at the end, because it's important to take a look at it and sort of what the coaches, how they've been feeling about it.

And so I want to revisit what he had to say. And he was asked about it at the Patriots' telephone conference call. Going back to the last play against Miami, what goes into the decision to put Rob Gronkowski on the field and take Devin McCourty off the field? First of all, I do not know who asked that question, but I have to give them a massive tip of the hat because it's the question that people still are talking about. It's the thing that people still want to get answers to. It's very similar, obviously not on the same stage, but it's similar to the Malcolm Butler decision, especially when, look, you've got guys like Dante Stallworth out there saying it's the worst

decision, and it's a decision on par with that Malcolm Butler decision. So here's what Blind Flores had to say about it. I understand why you're asking that. But I would say, I would just say, that's on us as a coaching staff. It happened. We wish it hadn't. We've watched it. We've corrected it as a staff. We've corrected it with the team. And really, honestly, we've got to move on to Pittsburgh.

So if that situation kind of shows up again, I think we'll handle it better. Obviously, it was a big one because it was the situation at the end of the game. But again, I think Bill said this. There were a lot of things in that game that needed to be better. We try and correct everything, and that's kind of where I'm at. For us in this team, the best thing for us is to move forward, which is Pittsburgh. And that's kind of where our focus is. Again, we've corrected.

We've gone through it. And we'll be better in that situation the next time it arises and so I think Flores says a lot of the things that needed to be said in that moment because if you read between the lines what he's basically saying is this is on us this is on us that's exactly what he said that's on us as a coaching staff. You don't even need to read between the lines there. I think the sort of bigger takeaway is that there's also the admission that there are other things in this game. It wasn't just this one play. And even this one play, for example, Matt Chatham, who does great work

for the athletic New England, the athletic Boston, breaking down Patriots stuff, former NFL linebacker and special teamer, said that, yeah, Gronkowski shouldn't have been on the field for that play. But he called it sort of the bright, shiny object, and that's the easy thing to talk about. The more difficult stuff to talk about is what led up to Robert Gronkowski being at the five-yard line having to potentially make a tackle to save a game.

And we spent so much time over the last week leading up to this game pointing out the fact that, look, according to pro football focus, the Patriots missed the least amount of tackles in the National Football League,

just 9%. Best in the league at tackling, which was kind of stunning when you remember that a lot of times on the great, the good, and the bad, one of the things I'll talk about in the bad is missed tackles. They pop up here and there and everywhere. But they missed a lot of tackles on that play. And so the decision to have Gronkowski out on the field, it was bad. It seems to have been corrected. But there were other things that went into losing this game

beyond just having Gronk on the field for that play. And so it was good to see Flores sort of address that. And now, look, we're on to Pittsburgh. And speaking of we're on to Pittsburgh, I did want to also just touch on one answer from this same phone call from Josh McDaniels. Because as we're going to talk about with Tony in a minute, you know, a big question facing the Pittsburgh Steelers

on how they handle this game is how they're going to play in the secondary. You know, we remember I talked about this a little bit in the Tape Tuesday show. You know, last year it was, you know, are they going to spot drop and play cover three? Well, they didn't. They played more two-man. And so Josh McDaniels, the first question out of the gate in this conference call was, is Pittsburgh still fundamentally running the same defense and concepts they have in the past? If so, does that help you in terms of getting a jump start on your preparation for them? And now here's what McDaniels saw.

Yeah, there's plenty of carryover from what we've competed against in the past. They've got a certain volume of things that I would say are core things to them that they do each year. They have plenty of change-ups that, depending on the game, the opponent, or how they feel like they need to defend you, that they can kind of unveil and use at their disposal each week. We've played them a lot, but it's always a difficult preparation one because they have good players two because they're very well coached their style of play they play with great effort physicality there's nothing easy they don't give up many big plays and then they create a lot of disruptive plays with what they do and then to top it all off there's the element of the unknown in every game you play against them there's going to be some element of adjustment

that needs to take place because they're going to change something that you're prepared for, and they're going to make an adjustment that you think is important to make that week, and then you're going to have to switch something up or adjust in the game as well. Really, really tough opponent. Tremendous amount of respect for Coach Tomlin and Coach Keith Butler and this whole defensive group. We've played against them a lot, and they're obviously playing very well right now. Lead the league in sacks, create a lot of negative plays, don't give up many yards, stop the run, good on third down.

I mean, this is a big challenge, and this is a tough place to play. I thought those comments were fascinating, given the way I've viewed the Steelers and how I've studied them and the statistical stuff that I've been given that says this isn't a cover three team anymore. It's a cover one team. It's different. Now, that might be McDaniel sort of being sort of soft around the edges here,

and he's seen a lot of their different stuff, and he's not really going to dive into it. But I think we're going to see a lot of different stuff on Sunday. Now, that being said, as we're going to hear from Tony in a second, he's afraid they're going to revert to form. And so maybe I'm the one that's reviewing this wrong. Maybe I'm the one that's going to be surprised when we sit down Sunday and we're all watching this and I'm taking my notes and I've got my highlighters and I'm just sitting there saying, man, they're just spot dropping into cover three

on every single play. I'd love to see it because I think Brady would have a huge game if that's the case. But we're going to have my conversation with Tony Serino in a moment but first, friends, we have a fantastic new sponsor here at the Locked On Podcast Network, DraftKings. This is your chance. Maybe your fantasy season has ended. I'm lucky enough. I've still got some teams alive.

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Locked On Patriots. Alright, crossover Wednesday here on the Locked On Podcast Network. I am joined by Mark Schofield of Locked On Patriots. Mark, how are you doing? Tony, I am doing fantastic. It's great to be with you. I'm excited to talk to you about this game because, you know, we were kind of chatting

for a minute sort of before we hit record and a strange year for both of these teams. I think you would agree with that. Absolutely. This is, you know, last year, this matchup was the marquee matchup in the NFL. Two of the top teams playing for, you know, home field advantage. Tomlin famously saying before the game that it felt like it was going to be round one of a two round fight. And now here we are a year later. And yeah, I mean, the fortunes have changed for both of these teams. Certainly the Steelers were on a three game losing streak. But let's start with this because, yeah, you and

I were talking before the show, you know, from the outside looking in as a Steelers fan, I will say it doesn't feel like the Patriots are any worse than they've been in any other year. It feels like they're just hanging around at the top of the AFC like they do every year, and they're going to make a playoff run like they do every year. But from what I've heard from a lot of Patriots fans and a lot of Patriots analysts out there, it doesn't feel like the same team, that they really have some holes that can be exploited this year. Is that your take as well? Yeah, Tony, I would agree with that.

I think it's a pretty honest assessment of where this team is right now. And I think the main thing to look at, at least with respect to this week, kind of look in the small micro first, this team has been a different team on the road. You look at the way they've played in road games, particularly their defense. They lose at Jacksonville. They lose at Detroit. They go to Chicago. They give up 31 points, and it comes down to a Hail Mary that falls a yard short. Yeah, they had an okay

outing against Buffalo on Monday night, but that's against Derek Anderson, who had just been signed by the team. Then they get blown out at Tennessee. You know, and then this past week, they go down to Miami, and they have yet another debacle down there in Miami that ends the way it didn't. So that's the biggest concern that a lot of Patriots fans have right now is that this team, particularly this defense, seems to be a completely different team on the road. And now you're going into Pittsburgh against a team that's like you said, they've lost three straight. So they clearly want to have a bounce back type performance. These games are typically huge heavyweight fights that come down, you know, to the last minute like they did last year. And so there's a lot of concern that this Patriots defense is not going to have things

figured out, or at least they won't figure it out until late in this game. And by then it might be too late. I saw a bit of that game against the Dolphins. Yeah, it did feel like that the Patriots defense is soft up front. The Dolphins were able to move the ball on the ground. Has that been the biggest weakness this year? Or has it been a different thing every week? It's been a different thing every week,

Tony, because you look at games against Jacksonville early in the season, Detroit early in the season. They had trouble in the second day. They couldn't cover crossing routes. They couldn't get pressure on the quarterback. They've handled some of that in recent weeks. Trey Flowers has been better against Minnesota. They were doing

a great job getting pressure. They've seemed to have relied a little bit on JC Jackson, a new corner. Last week against Miami, they struggled with run fits. They struggled getting off blocks at the second level. You look at Brandon Bolden, a former Patriot, gets a 54-yard touchdown run. You've got Patrick Chun, Dante Hightower, Landon Roberts just getting swallowed up whole by blocks at the second level, and they cannot engage, disengage to save their lives. So, you know, it's been a different thing at different points in the season. Right now I think it's more a run game, which, you know, kind of brings me to my first question is, you know,

looking ahead to this game, obviously an issue with the Steelers is the injury factor. Connor listed as questionable. Tomlin thinks he can go, I think. Roethlisberger left and then came back. How are the Steelers right now from an injury standpoint? It's weird to say, but they're actually better than they've been in recent weeks. Their injury list has been a bit long the last couple weeks.

But this week they're getting healthier on the defensive side of the ball. But like you said, you still got the injury to James Conner, and you've got this rib injury for Ben Roethlisberger. I'll start with Ben. He said on his radio show on Tuesday that he's going to be good to go on Sunday. And this may be a pain management thing for Ben, so will he practice throughout the week? We'll see.

But he was pretty certain on the show that he would play on Sunday. And then for Connor, he got that ankle injury. There was a report late in the week last week that he would be doubtful to play against the Patriots. But Tomlin left the door open for Connor to practice and maybe even play. I think the best you can hope for, for Connor is that he'll be a game time decision, uh, you know, come game time. But look at this point, the biggest thing for the Steelers is they have to get the running game going. They have not been able to get the running game going for a month. And it was, you know, it's been, uh, it's been tough to get Connor going even before

he got hurt because he was playing without a lot of confidence. He had a weird fumble against Denver and a bad drop against the Jaguars. It didn't seem like he was playing with a lot of confidence. Now he's down. You've got guys like Jalen Samuels and Steven Ridley splitting time against the Raiders. There was no running game to speak of against the Oakland Raiders. And so I don't know how this Steeler team can play against the Patriots

and be one-dimensional. And I know you said that the Patriots defense has some holes that can be exploited, but going up against Bill Belichick and the Patriots as a one-dimensional offense, I just don't think the Steelers are going to have a bunch of success doing that. Yeah, that's usually not the best recipe for success against a New England team. Tony, what's been interesting watching the Steelers this year, you know, kind of from afar, like you've been watching New England, is the sort of, I don't want to say it's a full-on switch in roles between Antonio Brown and Juju Smith-Schuster, but you've definitely seen Juju take a bigger role in this offense

to the point where you have some people out there wondering, you know, if Antonio Brown is in decline. And I'm, after watching him the past couple of weeks and his route running, I'm certainly not going anywhere near that kind of statement. But it does seem like Juju Smith has taken on a big role in this offense, and he's developing into a big-time wide receiver. Is that sort of the feeling around the Steelers, is that Smith-Schuster's taking on a much bigger role in this offense? Yeah, absolutely. He's certainly the number two option in this offense right now. Well, I mean, you can make an argument he's the number one option because Antonio Brown is still

drawing those double teams. I think the biggest difference you're seeing this year is that the Steelers don't feel the need to try and force the ball to AB in those spots and they're much more likely to go to guys like Juju. You've also had James Conner at times this year have big games. Vance McDonald at tight end has been involved. You've got

Ryan Switzer here. They've got some playmakers on this offense, but Juju especially. He's been tremendous this year. His playmaking ability, not just in his physicality over the middle is what kind of he made his name on early in his career, but his ability to make big plays and use what is deceptive speed in a lot of these cases. I mean, you saw it last week in that game against the Raiders,

the hook and lateral play. Here's Juju who was compared to Heinz Ward when he got into the NFL because of his ability to block and his ability to be physical. But his ability to beat defenders in one-on-one or in foot races is just as, you know, it's just as impressive. In fact, I mean, the Patriots fans saw that last year on the crazy run he had down the sideline. In that game, he's a tremendous playmaker. You know, is AB in decline? Is Juju better than AB right now? Look, it's an interesting question,

but it's a great conversation in Pittsburgh. Gotcha. One of the things that's always been fascinating watching the Steelers' offense over the years is the way that their offensive line has always been able to play well in unison, whether it's zone-blocking schemes, power-blocking schemes, gap-blocking schemes. It always seemed like that's a well-coached unit. How has that group fared this

year? They've been terrific. In fact, during the Steelers' sixth game winning streak, you can make an argument that that unit was the most important unit for the Steelers because Ben had all day to throw. Connor had easy running lanes. I mean, the offense was able to consistently move the football, and it was because that offensive line was playing so well. Guys like David DiCastro, Marquise Pouncey, Ramon Foster inside. They've had Marcus Gilbert, who's been injured for about two months now, really since the bye week, but Matt Filer has come right in at right tackle. And Mike Munchak, the offensive line coach, has done such a great job there at getting guys to fill in in spots. B.J. Finney has had to come in at times at getting guys to fill in in spots bj finney has

had to come in at times at guard but this team has been so cohesive even in those moments um you know i know a lot of teams around the nfl you know have a problem with offensive line depth the steelers have not when they went to their third right tackle this year chukso korafor and that was a game against von miller against uh bradley chubb in denver and i mean they didn't lose a beat it's it's it's been they've done a great job uh mike munchak has uh filling the gaps there and this offensive line has been when this team is on the offensive line is usually on and it's giving ben a bunch of time to throw and the running lanes are there we didn't see that against oakland unfortunately there were no running lanes there um and so the running game didn't get going and then you had josh dobbs in

the second half and well the rest is history there the rest certainly was history one thing i did want to ask you tony about this this steelers run game is you know what were the reasons for the run game sort of slowed down last week because you know watching it on tape i thought you know the raiders did some good stuff up front they were able to get some good run fits and things like that but was there a particular thing that you think held that Steelers run game back last week? Or was it just the Oakland Raiders outplayed them up front? I think it's a little bit of, you know, I think the Steelers, did they play down to their opponent? That's always been the thought in Pittsburgh.

It's like, you know, in these games, the Steelers are just playing down to their opponents. I thought the Raiders were good up front. Now, when Dobbs got in the game, there was no threat for the Steelers to pass. And they could kind of load up the box a little more. I also think the Steelers didn't play to their strengths enough in the running game. They had these pitch plays or trying to go off tackle with a guy like Jalen Samuels, who just doesn't have that kind of burst right now. And so he was kind of slow to get going on those plays.

He's much better in those spots as a receiver out of the backfield, if you want to get him in open space that way. But these pitch plays they were running, I don't think they did a great job of game planning for around the running backs they had available to them and i think the raiders did a very good job up front as well mark scoffield tony cerrito doing a little crossover action here on wednesday getting you ready for this big afc tilt between the pittsburgh steelers the new england patriots and tony i kind of want to shift gears here talk to to you about the Steelers' defense. Currently putting up some big sack numbers right now.

How are they getting pressure on guys up front? Well, you know, they get a lot of sacks, and that's true. But I really think it's been kind of smoke and mirrors for this team, and it has been for a little while. They have to manufacture pressure in a lot of ways. Not as much this season as last year, but still, the thing about this pass rush, they've got guys like Cam Hayward and Stephon Tuitt up front, and Javon Hargrave is another guy who's been

very good up front. I don't think he gets enough playing time as an interior rusher. TJ Watbo, Dupree on the outside, but they blitz inside linebackers all the time. In fact, I think they're one of the highest blitzing teams in the NFL. But it's manufactured pressure at a lot of times, and because of that, because this team is not very good at winning one-on-one battles, when it gets down late in games, when you got to get pressure, you're going to rush for, you saw this last week against the Raiders, the Raiders in their last two drives, they kind of went into desperation mode. They had to get the lead and

they were able to move the football consistently. And they were not, the Steelers were not able to get pressure in those moments. And that's really been the tail. So while the sack numbers are high, you know, they loaded up sacks against the Browns. They're loading up sacks against bad teams and bad offensive lines. But when when push comes to shove in late in football games, this Steeler defense just isn't getting there. And against Tom Brady, they're going to have to get there, because I think one of the biggest question marks for me with the Steeler defense is are they going to go back to the man to man scheme that they played last week? I know, you know, for those of us watching on TV,

Tony Romo went nuts in that game announcing it because the Steelers were doing so well in a man-to-man scheme that they usually don't play. For you, Mark, Tom Brady in 2018, he's what is he, 42, 43 years old now? 41, 41. 41, okay, all right. Don't age him too much on us, man. We'll cling to this for the last couple of years here.

But that's my question. The guy's 41 years old, and he still looks like Tom Brady. Has there been any sign that he's slowing down this year, that he's not the same Tom Brady? You know, Tony, there have been moments, and particularly in the wake of that game against Tennessee, you had guys like Mike Tenier come out over a police report and say, look, you know, his arm is a piece of overcooked fettuccine at this point.

He doesn't have the arm strength. And he was kind enough to come on my show and sort of defend the take, and I respect him for it. But there have been moments like in that game and some of the other games where you do sort of wonder, are we seeing him lose a bit on the fastball there has been this stretch since that Tennessee game and a couple of games since then where he seemed to struggle with just the simple little quick out to the left he was overthrowing that leading the receiver too far couldn't connect on that one he had a play at the

end of the first half against Miami where they were in position thanks to a tipped in a poor punt basically it wasn't technically a block although they got a finger on it of a punt. They had great field position, but they were out of timeouts, and Brady took a sack, thinking they had one timeout left, which is a very sort of un-Brady-like move. And so, Tony, there have been those moments this year

where you wonder, look, are we seeing sort of the decline? And then it's touched off an entire debate in the New England area of, is this the decline? Are we here? And if so, is the decline for Brady going from maybe QB 2, 3, 4 to QB 13 in the league? And if so, can they still win like that? And maybe, maybe not. We thought, you know, perhaps against that, you know, that game against Minnesota, where they did a lot of the quick passing game, trying to take the pressure off of him, there would be enough to get it done. But then you see

them kind of have the loss the way they did against miami where the defense puts up a ton of points yeah they score but they don't score enough in the end and they you know have the play at the end of the half where they you know don't put points on the board they miss a field goal they settle for field goals when they should have gotten touchdowns and so that's sort of the tension you know in new england right now is are we seeing the decline begin? And if so, where does that end? And for me, I think that Tom Brady is still playing just about as good as you would expect him to be. It's just that maybe the lack of consistency might be the sign that that decline might be upon us. Interesting.

So I know that there was a lot of talk before the season about losing nate soldier uh the offensive line might be a problem they went out and addressed that in the draft um has the offensive how's the offensive line held up in 2018 has that maybe played a factor at all in in tom brady and his you know quote unquote decline if we're going to call it that right i don't think so tony i think this group is actually gelled together pretty well and you're right, they addressed it. They used their first round pick on Isaiah Wynn, and they end up losing him to an Achilles injury.

He's been out the entire season. But they did get Trent Brown in that trade, and he has stepped into that left tackle spot and pretty much locked that down. There have been some missed assignments here and there. One of them led to an interception against Minnesota where he blocked to the right. Everybody else fanned to the left,

and Harrison Smith was unblocked off the edge and got a free shot on Brady. But this has been a pretty solid unit, and the other four guys are returning starters from last year. You've got Joe Thune at left guard, Andrews at the center spot, Shaq Mason, one of the league's better right guards, or better guards, period, at the right guard spot, and then Marcus Kennett at the right tackle spot.

It's a pretty cohesive unit, just the new face and trent brown and so i think this unit has played fairly well i think trent brown came here on a one-year deal he's probably made himself a ton of money and he's relatively young i think just 25 26 and so he's probably going to get a nice little payday when you're looking at you know it was just announced you know we're recording this on tuesday night salary caps getting bumped up by an additional $10 million. There are teams like the Jets and the Bills that are going to have a ton of cap space, and they would love to sign away New England's left tackle. So he's probably going to cash in this offseason.

So it's been a pretty good group, I'd say. And I think the issue for the struggles is early it was a lack of Edelman. Gronkowski's been injured, and he seems to have perhaps lost a step. And so I think things like that sort of played a role in the Brady issues. And speaking of Gronkowski, Tony, one of my takeaways from watching that game with the Steelers and the Raiders was Jerry Cook had a pretty good game. And you're seeing the Steelers trying to defend him. They're running guys like Terrell Edelman's at him,

LJ Ford at him, Morgan Burnett at him. Now you look ahead to Gronkowski, and while he may have lost a step, he may be a little dinged up, how do you think Pittsburgh tries to handle Rob Gronkowski? I think the way the Steelers want to address it is going to be with a guy like Morgan Burnett. I think it's a big reason why they brought him in

in the offseason is because of his ability to match up against tight ends. But like you said, Jared Cook ate up Morgan Burnett, really anyone that was covering him in that game against the Raiders. I don't know. I don't know. I think they're going to have to try Morgan Burnett. Last year it was Sean Davis and that didn't work. This year it's probably going to be a combination of Morgan Burnett, LJ Fort, like you said, maybe Terrell Edmonds. None of those guys is caring for Steelers or really is going to make Steelers fans feel like they're going to have success at shutting Gronk down. I think the Steelers are going to have to live with Gronk going for 100-plus

and whatever he's going to get and hope that they can shut down other guys. Not only are the Steelers, I think, going to have a hard time shutting down Gronk, but then I look over at how they're going to defend Gronk and then how they're also going to defend a guy like James White out of the backfield. You're going to always have Edelman coming over the middle for his easy yards. Then you've got Josh Gordon. Yeah, I don't know how the Steelers are going to match up against the Patriots right now. The Steelers' defense is reeling.

They just gave up two late touchdowns against an Oakland Raiders offense that really only has one weapon, and that is Jared Cook. And now you're going up against Brady, and I'm not saying Brady's got, you know, he's got the greatest weapons in the NFL, but he's got far more than Oakland does and a lot more talent there to work with. I think the Steelers' defense is in for a world of pain. Yeah, you know, Tony, what's interesting is, you know, you alluded to it a little bit earlier, was in years past, you would see, you know, the Steelers sort of play that cover three, they'd spot drop and try to clog throwing lands against Brady, and Brady was able to sort of pick them apart. And so the big adjustment sort of in last year's game was, like you said, with Tony Romo screaming about it in the booth going, it's more two man, a lot of man coverage looks, and that really sort of stymied the Patriots for a while until they sort of figured it out late do you think we see more of that or do you think given some of the struggles we've seen from

this defense they go back to sort of that cover three type look and try to sort of confuse Brady and just get multiple guys deep into the secondary to sort of take away throwing lanes I think I think it's probably the latter and I think it's because like you said the Steelers defense has struggled in the past couple weeks and I don't know that they're going to have the confidence to try and match up man-to-man like they did a year ago. You know, Brady, whenever they do that, Brady eats up the Steelers defense. You know, everything is so easy for him. And that's my worry going into this game is, yeah, I think the Steelers are going to kind of revert to their old tendencies. I think it's because of the fact that they don't have great matchups in one-on-one, right?

Who's going to be out there defending Gronk one-on-one? They don't have that player, and if they don't have that guy, you're going to see what you saw last year on the last couple drives where Brady was just going to Gronk every play, and the Steelers had absolutely no answer to it. The only way the Steelers' defense has any success in this football game, in my mind, is if they win at the line of scrimmage. They've got this defense that is capable of getting pressure. You know, they lead the league in sacks where they're right up there.

Guys like Cam Hayward, guys like Stephon Tuitt, guys like T.J. Watt, Bud Dupree, Javon Hargrave, that's going to be the make or break for this Steeler defense because otherwise if Brady has time to throw, there's just no doubt in my mind he's going to find open spaces in that Steeler secondary. All right, Tony, why don't we get out here on this. What are your final sort of thoughts? I'm not going to put you on the hook for a prediction or anything,

but sort of how do you see this game shaking out? Well, you know, this is a – it's an interesting time in Pittsburgh because the Steelers are on this three-game losing streak. They were top of the world after they beat the Carolina Panthers, and it looked like they were entering themselves into the discussion with the upper echelon teams. And now here they are, you know, three-game losing streak and a lot of fans calling for Tomlin's job again.

You know, part of that is just the fact that in Pittsburgh, right, the expectation is always sky high. And if you don't live up to that expectation, well, we've got to find the next guy. But it is weird because it is kind of Tomlin at a crossroads. If the Steelers were to lose this football game, they likely missed the playoffs because they have New Orleans the following week. That would mean that the Steelers go from 13 and 3 a 13 and 3 season to losing to blake portals at home in the

playoffs by giving up 45 points and then the very next year losing what will be three four five straight in a row to miss the playoffs the following year i got a weird feeling that this is going to be a a tomlin game where the steelers come out play inspired football and surprise a lot of people um you know i're saying, no, no prediction. I will say this. It is not going to surprise me if the Steelers come out there and win this football game, and maybe even win it easily. This is a team with its back against the wall,

and I know the Patriots are in a similar spot after losing to the Dolphins. That is not lost on me. But this Steelers team has lost three in a row, and I just find it hard to believe that this is the way the 2018 season is going to end, is with a four-game losing streak and and you know losing to the Patriots at home again I hear that Tony I mean I from my perspective I don't think anything would really surprise me given the way you know these two teams have played recently given the way you know the Steelers have had this three-game losing streak given the way the Patriots sort of lost. You know, I could see from the Patriots' perspective,

losing the way they did down in Miami could be one of those moments that forces a team down one or two different paths. They could either sort of rebound from that and say, look, this is not going to define our season, and they go on and they run the table and they do the kind of things that people expect the Patriots to do. Or they could have this moment where they just don't bounce back from that

and they go down to Pittsburgh, they just don't bounce back from that. And they go down to Pittsburgh, they lose, and that sort of sends them into a tailspin where, yeah, you know, they sneak themselves into the playoffs because I don't think they're going to lose this division, but they might fall out of a first-round buy. And then I don't see this New England team, you know, winning two road games to get to a Super Bowl. And so I don't think any path would surprise me right now. I could see any of those outcomes happening. And so that's why we're all going to be tuned in on Sunday to see how this all shakes out.

Yeah, this is going to be a fantastic game either way. I mean, look, for Steeler fans, regardless of the three-game losing streak and all that, I think there's a lot of Steeler fans out there who have just watched Tom Brady beat the Steeler team so many times. And then, of course, we never mentioned the Jesse James play, but don't think Steeler fans have forgotten. They have not. And I know there's a lot of Steeler fans out there who really just want to see this team

beat the Patriots, regardless of record, regardless of where the Steeler team is right now. Just get the monkey off their back. I more than believe it, Tony. Fantastic stuff. Let all the Patriots fans that are listening to this show, let them know where they can find you and your work. Yeah, you can find me on Twitter at Steeler Country, and you can find me on the

Locked On Steelers podcast. Fantastic stuff, Tony. I am Mark Schofield from the Locked On Patriots podcast. you can find me on Twitter at Steeler Country and you can find me on the Locked On Steelers podcast. Fantastic stuff, Tony. I am Mark Schofield from the Locked On Patriots podcast. You can follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield, places like InsideThePylon.com, Profile Weekly, The Score. I'm on other websites

that I'm doing some work for. As always, check out all the work we're doing over here at the Locked On Podcast Network. We've got draft season coming up as well. Draft dudes, Locked On NFL Draft with Trevor Sycamore, John Ledger. They're doing fantastic work as well.

So check out all the work that's going on in the Locked On Podcast Network. Until next time, keep it locked right here to Locked On Patriots and Locked On Steelers. Go ahead, Tony. Take it away. And Locked On Steelers. There we go. Thank you.